Columbia engineers take chili prize

CaptionColumbia resturants to savor: Victoria Gastro Pub

Matt Roth, Patuxent Publishing

Victoria Gastro Pub is the very model of the suburban gastro pub. Guided by owner Randy Marriner, VGP is devoted to using fresh produce, stocking craft beers and promoting great wines. The menu is casually ambitious, hearty and satisfying fare.

Victoria Gastro Pub is the very model of the suburban gastro pub. Guided by owner Randy Marriner, VGP is devoted to using fresh produce, stocking craft beers and promoting great wines. The menu is casually ambitious, hearty and satisfying fare.

In December 2010, Mary and Joe Barbera relocated AIDA Bistro & Wine Bar, their forward-looking, season-following and enduringly popular Italian restaurant, from its original strip-center home to a free-standing building, just across the way in a sprawling Columbia office park. The original location had the intimate feel of a family-run bistro, but it always lacked a few things that the Barberas wanted, principally enough kitchen space to sustain a lunchtime operation and a bar area where people could gather before their meal, or just because they wanted a nice space to meet friends for a glass of wine and a bite to eat.

In December 2010, Mary and Joe Barbera relocated AIDA Bistro & Wine Bar, their forward-looking, season-following and enduringly popular Italian restaurant, from its original strip-center home to a free-standing building, just across the way in a sprawling Columbia office park. The original location had the intimate feel of a family-run bistro, but it always lacked a few things that the Barberas wanted, principally enough kitchen space to sustain a lunchtime operation and a bar area where people could gather before their meal, or just because they wanted a nice space to meet friends for a glass of wine and a bite to eat. (Lloyd Fox, Baltimore Sun)

There was apparently some trash talking in the days leading up to the competition with some heated online messages passing among competitor companies. A video created by Praxis featured two fictional ADG employees so distraught by their chili recipe they planned to get jobs at Praxis before the cook-off.